How to Decorate a Baby Room

By Doug Hewitt on November 1, 2011

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A baby room, or nursery, is a room that will be remembered long after the baby has grown into adulthood. Decorating the nursery is, in one way, planning ahead for how the months and years after birth will be reminisced. Also, the decorations in a nursery will be some of the earliest things a newborn will set eyes upon, and parents rightly want to make those decorations stimulating and pleasant for the child. Decorating a baby room is not difficult, and remembering a few key steps before actually setting the room up can save time later.

Step 1

Pick a color scheme. If the baby isn't born yet and you don't know the gender, choose a gender-neutral color. You can also keep the color of the room as it is now, but you'll need to know if your decorations will clash with the colors of the nursery walls.

Step 2

Embellish the walls. Put up wallpaper borders along the ceiling. Typical patterns include flowers for a girl and a nautical theme, such as anchors or sailboats, for a boy. On one section of a wall, paint with stencils and bright colors to create visual stimulation for the baby. Simple stencil shapes such as circles and triangles of different colors are enough to decorate nursery walls. These decorate the room in a more permanent fashion. Do these first so you know what you have to work with, using movable decorations.

Step 3

Display homemade baby quilts, paintings or hand-stitched wall hangings. These are movable decorations, so you can adjust their locations, unlike the painted shapes.

Step 4

Place hanging shadowboxes on the walls. Fill the shadowboxes with simple objects such as alphabet blocks or colorful pictures of cartoon characters. As the baby grows, change the shadowbox contents appropriately.

Step 5

Add bookshelves to the floor or the wall from the wall. In addition to adding colorful book ends, decorate the shelves with baby-themed lamps and knickknacks. For example, painted figurines can be placed on one shelf instead of books.

Step 6

Hang a mobile or two from the ceiling. Your baby will be able to see colorful, moving objects instead of a one-color ceiling.

Step 7

Add window treatments and rugs to cozy up the room and add more color.

About the Author

Doug Hewitt has been writing for 20 years and has a Master of Arts from UNC-Greensboro. He authored the book The Practical Guide to Weekend Parenting, which includes health and fitness hints for parents. He and his wife, Robin, are co-authors of the Free College Resource Book.